by Anne M. Turner, Director of Libraries

August 15, 2007

Here are the statistical highlights of the Library System's just-completed fiscal year. The later pages of this report provide tables and comment on several of the more important statistical measures.

• Checkouts of library materials exceeded 2 million for the first time, up nearly 4% from FY 2005-06.
  
  A big portion of the increase was a 14% rise in web site renewals. Electronic renewals accounted for 411,216 of the 2,051,331 total checkouts. Library users used to have to come in to a branch to renew an item they wanted to keep another two weeks. Now they can do it much more conveniently online.

• Nearly a third of the checkouts were of non-book materials - videos, CDs, audiotapes, magazines, and the like. This is an increase from last year.

• The most heavily checked out non-book items were videos and DVDs (78% of the non-book total). Electronic books accounted for 28,104 checkouts (more than double the number in the previous year) reflecting the fact that we have many more titles available for users.

• We collected $243,549.41 in fees and fines, which works out to 12 cents per item checked out.

• Borrowers checked out 9.99 items per capita of our State Finance Department population and 10.07 items per capita of our Library Financing Authority population. The average per capita check out rate for libraries in our State population group last year was 4.48 items. Our rate is exceeded only by Santa Clara County (22.32 items per capita) and San Mateo (10.56 items per capita).

• Requests for materials were up again - from 212,146 in 2005-06 to 237,865 placed in 2006-07. Of that number we filled 87%. We suspect the reason the number keeps rising is that the Library's automation system makes it increasingly easy to ask for wanted items: users do not have to visit a branch to place a request - they can do it on-line.

• The Library staff borrowed 2,379 items via interlibrary loan for our users, and handled 3,304 loans to other libraries. These are big jumps up from the previous year because the Library's catalog is now on the national database, OCLC. Interlibrary loan requests are primarily for items that are out-of-print or are more specialized than warrant purchase by a public library system. We do track requests by subject, however, to make sure that we aren't failing to purchase materials in areas of high interest to our users.

• On June 30, 2007 we had 252,725 unique titles in all formats in the collection, and 568,688 items. During the fiscal year we purchased 36,184 items: 32,267 books and 3,917 media items. More information on the Library collections appears later in this report.

• The Library subscribes to 27 electronic databases that are mounted on our Website and available to users. Most can be accessed from a home computer using a library card and a pin number. Licensing restrictions make others available only at library sites. Both libraries and the vendors continue to struggle with how to track actual use. Some vendors keep statistics by session (the user logs on to the database and uses it for an indefinite time; this is one session), and others by searches (one query of the database equals one search). There is at least one vendor (Rich's Business Directory) that does not see libraries as a significant client base, and provides no mechanism for any record keeping at all.
  
  We tallied 23,195 sessions during the fiscal year, and 108,165 searches, but we regard this data as highly suspect.

• Six of our Branches had reading discussion groups for adults last year, and there were seven for young people.

• On May 31, 2007 we had 61,474 active registered borrowers, meaning people who have used their cards to checkout materials within the last two years. The number of card holders is 128,255, of whom 14% are children and 4% teenagers.

• Interestingly, a random check of borrower card use during June revealed that a number of people had never used their cards to check out items, but did use their cards to access databases on the Library's web site. This confirms predicted trends: that within the next few years the majority of Library users will be accessing electronic resources rather than checking out items. During FY 2007-08 we will look at changing the definition of an "active" card to include electronic use.

• Volunteers, whether Friends of the Library, court referrals, or youth completing community service requirements for school, contributed 15,672 hours of service during the Friends fiscal year (May through April).

• The Young People's staff at all branches gave 751 programs (mostly story hours) for 18,454 preschoolers, parents and caregivers, and another 443 programs for 7,087 school-aged youngsters and their teachers. They also managed 425 class visits from both day care centers and the schools, involving 8,674 children and teachers. A "class visit" usually involves a presentation about the library and its resources, and instruction in how to use the computers or find information for the current assignment of the class. A story is often read to younger children.

• "Paws, Claws, Scales, and Tales" was the theme of the 2006 Summer Reading Program, which is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Inc. 2,544 children participated in the reading part of the program with 1,095 (43%) finishing and collecting an average of 13.04 Summer Reading Dollars apiece. The Summer Reading Dollars can be used at local sponsoring stores.

• There were a total of 233 special Summer Reading events, attended by more than 4,300 youngsters and parents. Twenty-three Young Friends volunteered 166.75 hours of time for the Summer Reading Program.

• The Summer Reading Program traditionally includes a Festival of the Book and Kids Only Book Sale at Harvey West Park. The Friends of the Library supplied hotdogs for one and all. The Kids Only Book Sale earned $1,802, selling out as usual.

• The Gault School on the Eastside was the site of the 2006 Santa Cruz City Schools Summer School. Our Branciforte Branch hosted 27 class visits attended by 534 students and 50 supervising adults during the six week session.

• The Library System also sponsored or hosted 631 programs aimed at adults, with 8,611 attendees. 247 of those were Outreach staff programs at nursing homes, senior residences, and staff (as distinct from volunteer) visits to homebound people, with 2,392 adult contacts.

• 2006-07 was a transition year for our Outreach Program staff, as we moved staff who had been funded by First 5 grants into regular status, and expanded our services to child care providers by adding day care centers. First 5 funds continue to support the program. We also obtained a First 5 grant to start a three year program called Family Place. Parents and children come to a branch library for a story hour and program, and they meet informally with professionals who coach them or provide information about subjects of interest to parents: nutrition, reading readiness, health matters, etc. The first series was at the Branciforte Branch, and was such a success that the parents asked if they could hold "reunion" meetings. The next series will be at Live Oak.

• Our Adult and Reference Services division has also began a shift from question-answering to training and programming for adults. Reference staff gave workshops on using the Internet and the Library's resources, we had an Adult Summer Reading program, and the staff does a great deal of support work for reading groups both at Branches and in people's homes. The coming year will be one of experimentation. In a culturally rich community such as Santa Cruz County, the public library does not necessarily need to focus its resources on a large programming effort. But there are information needs here that no one else is meeting and we are working to identify them and determine the best methods for meeting them.

• Library staff participated in 186 training events, with 852 attendees, totaling 2,133 staff hours. That's roughly eighteen hours per staff person, and includes the orientation and training we do for new workers. Training and re-training is important for library workers because technology changes so rapidly, and the demands of a very diverse public are so great. This year we did Intellectual Freedom Refresher Training at all Branches, using "Stop Action" scripts Janis O'Driscoll had acquired as Chair of the California Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee. These provoked useful discussions with staff at all levels about how to handle sensitive IF issues. The most popular Infopeople Workshop during the year was called "Customer Service Skills for Culturally Diverse Communities." We also ran seven ergonomic trainings attended by 19 people.

• Staff also worked on a signage redesign program, began a major overhaul of the library website, studied the job specifications for all support staff, and collectively devoted considerable thought to how public services should be configured to meet 2lst Century information needs.

Santa Cruz County makes high demands for library service, which our very competent staff works hard to meet. In summary, FY 2006-2007 was a busy year for staff, users, and volunteers at the Library. The following pages contain more detailed statistical information.

CIRCULATION DATA

We also track the residence of library borrowers. The percentages in the tables below are roughly what they have been for the past three decades: one third by City of Santa Cruz residents, and two thirds all others.

THE LIBRARY COLLECTIONS

The figures in the Collections table do not include copies of periodicals. The number of subscriptions at each Branch is presented below.

Although we acquired slightly more than 36,000 new items during the fiscal year, the collections at nearly half of our Branches declined slightly. The reason was heavy weeding, undertaken because:

• If we don't weed, we don't have room for new items with more current information. Most of our Branches are too small for the number of people they are endeavoring to serve and the size of the collections the public demands.

• We have been particularly rigorous in weeding during the last few years because over-crowded shelves cause worker injuries.

• The Branch Manager and staff have particularly focused on weeding the Felton Branch which has the square footage for half the number of items actually housed there. Weeding the collection down to a more sensible level creates a far more inviting facility, and gives both the staff and the public more elbow room for other activities.

BRANCH BUSYNESS

The Library collects visitor data at each branch, using counters attached to the security devices at each entrance. The data is unreliable, but in a consistent way. That is, the counters regularly break down, and people (especially children) skew the data by playing with the light indicators. We could adjust the collected data based upon a formula derived from an accurate hand counted sample. But since our interest is really to measure trend data, this does not seem worth the trouble.

The Table below shows the total visitor count (divided in half) by hour for each Branch. The Table confirms what we know from checkout data: Central is the busiest facility (as it should be), and Aptos and Scotts Valley are roughly comparable. Use at Branciforte fell when its services were reconfigured to the Tier I level, but is still very high. Capitola remains much busier than its peer Tier I branches, Felton and Boulder Creek. Live Oak is an example of the aphorism "If you build it they will come."

NOTE: Significant declines at any Branch are due to Branch closures: Garfield Park for renovation in 2000-01, Live Oak for construction beginning in June 2003-04, Aptos for interior modifications in 2004-05, Boulder Creek and La Selva for painting in 2006-07.

OPEN HOURS declined from 470 in 2001-02 to 430 in 2006-07.

REFERENCE SERVICES

Reference queries handled increased by 3% over FY 2004-05, largely due to a full year of service at the Live Oak Branch.